Any good at design and engineering? If so then here are some problems you might be able to help solve. There might even be a prize from a team or two if you can make it happen.
Race radios
Love them or loathe them, race radios are in use. But they’re literally a pain to wear, a hard block. They can make a crash worse if a rider lands on it too. So why not design a radio unit that fits inside a bike frame and with a charging port? All a rider needs is a bluetooth earpiece.
One advantage would be the bike weight now includes the radio so some models that require ballast to meet the UCI’s 6.8kg rule may no longer need this. A custom radio would be lighter as most devices used are marketed as rugged devices and come with features like displays and buttons that aren’t needed. There’s even the chance for a longer aerial to help improve the signal.
One disadvantage is it would be harder to change during a race in case of a problem but if a rider drops back to the team car to change their radio well they can drop back for a bike change too.
Sticky bottles
Talking of dropping back to the team car, once upon a time a rider would go back to fetch bottles. It still happens, but increasingly teams post staff on the race route to hand up food and drink. Only how many times have you seen a rider try to get a bottle from a soigneur only to drop it? In quieter moments of a race it’s a brief moment of excitement: catch or fumble?
This matters because riders are taking on a lot of calories and so a missed bottle can mean dehydration and a missed fuelling. Teams with big resources can post staff all along the route and even then a missed drink can be a penalty. But imagine the problem for a small team, their disadvantages can compound if one opportunity missed.
It’s not easy taking a bidon at speed. They’re made to slide in and out of a bottle cage, not to grab at speed. But as they’re so important in a race could this change? How about a bottle that has some grip on the outside like dimples or a shaped like a decagon, ie with 10 sides. What about gloves with more rubber or silicone grip on them to help rather than just the faux-suede finish?
Fork steerer tubes
Once upon a time you had to spend a while aligning your saddle to ensure it pointed forwards, that it was straight. Now many bikes have D-shaped seatposts, supposedly more aero but they are aligned to start with. Why not extend this to fork steerer columns so the stem is straight from the get-go, either D-shaped, square, octagonal or whatever?
Now before you rush to the comments to say the bars can twist in a crash, a round steerer tube helps slide rather than snap, sure. But cynically this hasn’t prevented other “innovation” and there is a trade-off, instant fitting versus durability. A stumbling block could be a common system across the industry.
Adjustable vents
Once upon a time bike helmets had to be as vented as possible, that was the selling point. Now plenty are vaunted for aerodynamics but this can come at the cost of cooling. But what if you could have a helmet where you can slide the vents closed just in time for the final kilometres of a race, especially one ending in a sprint? This way you can stay cool for 95% of the race and then get any tiny gains for when the pace is high. There are regulations about casings and coverings but they’re typically about parts that are added to the helmet rather than built-in.
Bearing size
Got some fancy climbing wheels? You can have a pair that weighs under 1,200g, or 950g if you use rim brakes. Lightweight hubs can help here, and smaller bearings are a part of this. But as any skater knows, bigger bearings are crucial for lower rolling resistance.
It’s an open question but without naming names hubs on regular wheels can have surprisingly tiny bearings on the axles, often way smaller than the bottom bracket and they might be specced once the rest of the hub has been designed, so flange size comes first. The torsional force is not the same as the BB but still the hub bearings are expected to spin even more so there might be some watts to be saved here at the expense of weight.
Safety pins
These work when it comes to pinning on a number, but it’s a chore. Plus they’ve worked in the jersey era but are less useful for today’s stretchy speedsuits where a pin in the wrong place can tear the number, the kit… or both. A crash or just a sudden movement can result in annoying acupuncture mid-race too.
There’s already the use of pockets made by the likes of Nopinz of course but the point is they’re OK for UCI time trials but not allowed in road races. So short of the rules changing, invent another system. The Tour de France had adhesive dossards but no longer.
Of course having a jersey with a permanent number printed on it would be better. But that’s less a design and engineering topic and more one of economics and politics. Organisers like to attribute the numbers and sometimes the numbers are sponsored so they’d be reluctant to give this up. While, say, U1 could be Pogačar’s number for UAE and V1 for Vingegaard at Visma, with Alpecin, Arkéa and Astana it’s not so obvious to have the [letter]-[number] system.
Smaller rear disc brakes
Do rotors and calipers need to be as powerful at the back as the front? Arguably not, so the design brief here is a system to help balance the braking and help save weight. You can have different rotor diameters today, but instead why not go further with a redesign with lighter calipers too.
Magnetic thru-axles
A quick-release skewer was just that. Borrowing from Tulio Campagnolo who invented the quick-release lever in response to needing to swap over his backwheel each time he needed the lower or higher sprocket on each side, “something’s got to change” today too.
Pro mechanics can change a disc-brake wheel with a thru-axle reasonably but one risk is fumbling with the axle. They use impact wrenches to unscrew the axle like a motorsport pit mechanic and then pull the thru-axle out of the way to put the spare wheel in before putting the axle back and then tightening. If there was a way to ensure the thru-axle says on the end of the impact wrench until it’s torqued back in place and the wrench is pulled away this could save time and stop the axle rolling around in the dirt.
Conclusion
Things are still used because they always have been, like safety pins. And readers with actual engineering specialisms might have views on hub bearings. Some suggestions are more pro-cycling only rather than every day consumers so less of a commercial imperative. But among the pro-issue only there probably is a design prize and even an order book for an inbuilt race radio, at least one team has explored this. Feel free to add your suggestions for problems that need solving.
BRILLIANT idea about the race radios!
Plus, it’ll have commercial compatibility as well as this battery pack, radio, etc. set up can be used for cyclists with urgent phone calls or similar. However, we want to be careful not to encourage people to use bluetooth music headphones. In my VERY humble opinion, this could lead a dangerour precedent. However, I can see people liking this aspect (there are lots of people who ride with headphones).
Thanks…
(…and a request not to turn the comments into “headphones during your rides, yes or no?” debate).
Agreed – I was just covering off the counter comment from anyone who reacted to my point of this having great commercial compatibility.
These ideas often need backing from the commercial side. Cycling (and most sports) innovate when the idea works both in race and the real world.
I can’t believe safety pins are still in use – especially with these super tight jerseys. I still have my race jersey’s from the 2000’s and pins worked well on these. However, I would have expected the UCI to mandate jerseys that work better with commercial appeal. Surely cyclists who ride on the weekends aren’t flocking to the stores to buy up these super tight and aero jerseys to use on their weekly group rides. I haven’t been on a group ride in years but when I ride I have several jerseys Ive used for years and they are comfortable and don’t highlight that I’m not as tiny as I once was. A super tight aero jersey would be really uncomfortable for me and the pockets wouldn’t carry anything!
Anyways, I’m guessing this isn’t where you want this debate to go either. But, everything ties back to commercial use….
“But, everything ties back to commercial use….”
Yes, forget about anything involving SPORT, it’s all about commerce.
Agree about moving radio receivers from the riders backs. It has always seemed a potentially dangerous position for them to be placed in the event of an accident.
Thru Axles. I know they are part and parcel of the current disc brake mania, but they will never replace the simplicity, charm, convenience, speed and no requirement for tools of the old QR mechanisms.
Race Radios – scrap the earpiece and microphone, use data instead.
Replace with a homologated head unit which also incorporates three critical race control messaging functions:
1. Display can be overridden by a yellow screen and beeper alerting riders to a hazard ahead, or red for a race neutralisation requiring riders to slow down and prepare to stop. Like the in-car displays which show the marshalling signals in Motorsport.
2. Buttons to request team/neutral service or report an incident (crash etc) via text message, no fiddling around with the microphone and listening for a reply.
3. Location tracker, so no rider is left abandoned off the side of a road like Muriel Furrer again.
Get rid of the earpieces and riders will be more alert to their surroundings, and will have to choose for themselves when to push forward rather than reacting to a DS yelling at them.
Well, you don’t want riders fiddling with pressing a button on their head unit while riding… and then you don’t want them trying to focus and look at the response either….
The information needs to come to them in their ears while they are looking forward.
Incoming alert: Traffic furniture coming up
Rider: “I know… I had my head down trying to read the message on the screen… I’m now on my back.”
Try reading again, slowly and carefully to increase the chance of comprehension.
Alerts from race control need to be as simple as the whole screen showing bright yellow (equivalent to the yellow flag in motorsport, universally understood from club races through to F1) such that it is easily observed in peripheral vision (not stared at) and backed up by a beeper. Not a text message. Objective is to get eyes up as quickly as possible.
Pressing one button (with appropriate tactile design to avoid the need for eye contact, just like the othe gearing and brake controls have) to request service would far simpler than fiddling around with the voice radio and then a bunch of back and forth with the DS.
I’m not going to comment – but I read your answer several times. It doesn’t work for a cyclist racing at full on race pace towards several danger points. Information in the ear is or marshals is far safer than anything involving a head unit.
I don’t think you understand race pace and the lack of focus a rider has at high speed.
Di2 already offers the option to link the buttons on top of the (Shimano) hoods to a head unit. They work very well and it’s easy to scroll through screens.
Riders not looking where they are going seems like a poor idea
This.
How many riders in ‘no radio’ races already receive and send SMS or online messaging to a standard headset? Garmins have a stock set of replies…. which mainly seem to be ‘okay’ in my experience.
None, riders aren’t allowed to carry phones so they aren’t getting text messages notifications on their head units.
I don’t like the concept of riders sending messages on their headsets during a race.
If it is dangerous while driving a car, it’s far worse at race pace in a peloton.
Luckily the UCI and race organisers are full of ex racers who would never allow these concepts to take hold.
Yes, we want more looking at screens instead of where they’re going. Gino Mader?
Is there anything whatsoever beyond pure speculation – I do now wish to comment on by what kind of experts – that Gino Mäder was looking at a screen when he should have looked at where he was going?
As far as I know it’s pure speculation, but what else would you suggest could have caused it? What I’ve seen online suggests one of those “Oh s__t, I screwed-up!” things resulting from inattention, which a few riders have kinda/sorta have admitted since the screens have become standard-issue.
But we’ll never know since Mader’s not talking, the makers of the screens have other interests contrary to safety and the riders pretty much just STFU and get on with it while the UCI’s way too much in the technology bag these days. Race radios SHOULD be made safer, by getting rid of them!
Please leave the speculation out, it’s distasteful. Go read the reports if you like, Swiss newspaper NZZ has covered the event quite well with sensitive reporting and little clickbait.
DaveRides, regarding your idea of a location tracker, don’t all of the bikes have transponders on them, and therefore you know their location anyway?
(Genuine question: I’m not going to join in with the speculation while there is an ongoing investigation – unlike Adam Hansen.)
For the bottles in the feed zone, why not use a mini-musette? Gives something with a bit of yield for the rider to grab on to, with the cost of a little bit more faffing about to take the bottle out.
Instead of safety pins, could organisers not print numbers on fabric that could be sewn on to the jerseys?
Would radios need to built in to the bike? Just hang them off the mount being used for the head unit. That way with a bike swap, you take the radio and head unit and transfer them over. Not sure what using Bluetooth for the headphones would do for battery life. And whether having 200 headphones trying to connect to 200 radios would work reliably. And whether wireless earbuds would stay in reliably.
How about velcro for race numbers…a bit like netball (the modern version of velcro that doesn’t get tangled with every other bit of clothing when you stick it in the wash)
Or print them on a blank space on the jersey the same way that they print sponsor logos on race leader jerseys, but use non permanent pigments that come off in the wash so teams don’t need new jerseys for each race
A length of a not too strong cloth, like a cotton strap on a musette, is exactly the answer here. It can be scooped up easily by a rider. The musette can be safely discarded later – given to spectators, handed to the car, etc. Worst case, a cotton bag will biodegrade.
It is worth noting that a length of rope/wire, suspended and stretched out, is used to allow much higher-speed vehicles to grab stationary objects. I.e., in a number of applications in aviation, very widely used in banner-towing, even for grabbing objects/people from the ground – the “Skyhook” (as seen in the “Thunderball” James Bond film).
See also trains picking up mail bags from trackside poles on the fly
How about just covering the riders and bottles in Velcro, so they could just be tossed in their general direction at speed? I suppose we’d need standards about which gets the hooks and which the loops, to avoid significant time losses after pileups.
LOL
Yeah just toss a bottle in the general direction of the peloton and see what happens
Just imagine how contact during sprinting would turn out…
Di2 already offers the option to link the buttons on top of the (Shimano) hoods to a head unit. They work very well and it’s easy to scroll through screens.
Magnetic through axles is really quite simple – just get them made from steel instead of exotic materials.
Use the thru axle as the passive side and the 6mm hex bit on the mechanic’s impact driver as the magnetised side.
A magnetiser-demagnetiser can be found at any normal hardware store on the planet and used to magnetise a normal 6mm hex bit in seconds, but I’m sure there’s also the opportunity for a certain company which might rhyme with Shark Drool to magnetise them for you and put it in a blue box for sale with an obscene markup at bike shops.
Yes, only the ending needs to be steel/iron rich. Or you can have a different fitting, like a small ball/spring on the wrench which clips in and out. Anything to stop the axle rolling around on the ground.
Why not issue riders with a unique – to them, race number at the start of the season which is used throughout the season. Printed on the riders jersey.
Answer is above in the text because I knew people would ask.
I still think printing jerseys with numbers at the start of the season. The racer has one less thing to worry about (my first season of racing I made such a mess of my kit from bad pinning). And economically, fans would buy a jersey with their favorite racer’s name and number. Even today people wear Chicago Bulls gear with Jordan 23. Why not UAE/Pogacar 1?
Might work … but at least when I got into the sport way back when, it was considered bad form to wear yellow (pink/polka dot/green/rainbow…) or a current trade team. Unless, of course, you earned it. Maybe things are different now.
One problem I can foresee is, where do you stop allocating and printing numbers?
World tour races also include a small number of pro-conti (or whatever they’re called now) teams. So the pro-conti teams need numbers allocated and printed too, else they’re arguably at a disadvantage, having flappy non-aero numbers…but pro-conti teams race in races with conti teams, so now they need numbers allocated and printed too or they’re at a disadvantage. And so on…
Before you know it Team Bikeshop ABC is trying to fit numbers 10,149 – 10,179 on their jerseys…
Use letters and numbers.
26 letters means you need a much less long race ‘number’.
You would go with numbers being allocated within each team like ball sports do, not unique numbers for the whole field like Formula 1 can do when there’s only 20 cars on track at a time.
Each combination of kit and number will be unique, just like nobody sees LeBron James playing and thinks he is Michael Jordan because they can tell the difference between #23 for the Bulls 30 years ago and #23 for the Lakers today.
The most recent former winner of each race on the start line gets to change over to #1 for that race only.
DaveRides, yup, it’s that simple. Once pointed out, yours is the obvious answer to this.
Although most team sports are much better than cycling at requiring teams to wear different colours. It would be quite easy to confuse “no.7 blue” with the five other no.7 blues in the same race.
I’d have thought that if the camera shot was close enough to read a number, it would be close enough to see what team it was. They usually have something written on their back ends, just below the numbers.
As someone who gets involved with the identification of riders during races can I just say the tried and trusted method of allocating riders unique numbers for each event isn’t broken and doesn’t need fixing.
Sometimes you will be trying to identify a crashed rider, or someone stopped for service or in a break and you might only get a fraction of a second to see a number. The brain can probably register two or three digits quicker than an alphanumeric series or any attempt at a longer number. There have been many times when I’ve seen a rider (or a bike) on the ground any only got the final digit of the dossard. But that is all I need because I know it is team x (from the kit or bike colours), rider 3 so I can resolve who that is from the start list (eg that team are numbered 21 to 26 so it must be Fred Smith.
Personal numbers work in team sports where you only have two teams competing at a time (eg Basketball) because someone is on team A or team B. Try doing that with 29 teams of six riders…
Haven’t you contradicted yourself here because you say you look at the team kit, or bike, and the number?
And if everyone had the same numbers, year round, you’d learn those pretty quickly rather than having to consult a list.
And so would all us spectators.
I take the point about different sponsors name on dossards. In todays world, where jerseys are supplied by the kit sponsor, adding an event sponsors name above a number should not present an insurmountable challenge.
This may be somewhat boring remark, but I think that for sure something in the realm of safety needs to break through. There is an unacceptable rate of injury and risk of death in cycling in general and in pro cycling in particular. Some of that will need to be solved with systemic organizational measures but maybe some can be mitigated with equipment innovation. I always was intrigued by the Hövding Air Bag and believe some iteration of that could make it to mainstream and pro cycling, provided it could be made more aerodynamic, maybe tucked on the neck and chest.
I’m not sure that equipment (apart from better helmets) can really be a game changer for rider safety. I was recently rewatching the Stelvio stage from the 2020 Giro, and I had the distinct impression that the riders were descending slower than what we’ve seen the past couple years. And this was only four years ago! Has there been this sudden shift now to just really pushing on descents? I’ve certainly gotten that impression. I don’t know what it will take for riders to collectively decide “what we’re doing here is too dangerous.” I do know that I don’t want to watch another season like this one.
This isn’t an easy item. You will always have riders who have very close to zero fear and take insane risks.
But are those the ones who are crashing?
Is it the great descenders – Nibali, Sagan, Pidcock, etc. – who crash? They may seem like they’re taking risks, but are the real risks being taken, and accidents caused, by the more incompetent riders?
I don’t know, but I suspect the latter.
In general, I wonder if there is enough focus on riding skill, rather than nutrition, tech., etc.
Indeed. Further, the lower skilled riders can end up crashing from trying to follow a more skilled one, conceivably.
It’s not incompetence though. I think it’s completely impossible to get to WT level without being highly competent at descending. Even Pinault in his worst days surely was a >99th percentile descender. It’s just some riders have that little bit extra skill, from a bunch of already highly skilled riders.
And the difference may not even be skill. It may be physiological. From one simply genetically having slightly better reactions, proprioception, and/or balance; to one rider just being a bit low on sugar compared to another on a given descent, and it affecting their skills and judgement.
Exactly this. I’m a pretty good club level descender. But measuring myself against the pros is a joke. I think Richie Porte, for example, had a reputation as not being a fast descender, but he was minutes faster than me down an Alpine descent.
J Evans – excellent point. So much focus is on tech… similarly to road vehicles, the cars have several (and often competing) safety features. But no one outside of Finland discusses forcing drivers to take driving lessons, not as a punishment, but to enhance their skills as they age.
Cyclists should have the same item. You need to train them to race safer rather than only focus on tech and efforts. On basic basemile days, why not bring in Nibali or another recently retired pro to descend with the young guys and show them their techniques. Or, in the “old” days you would go messing around on a grass ride to learn handling. Or, make everyone race cyclocross. When we were doing winter riding we would try to ride as close as possible and tap each others’ handlebars to learn control and stability…
Anyways, J Evans, great point, it isn’t about tech sometimes, and there is no easy fix to make races safer. Training and teaching riders to be as safe as possible is often the best way. It’s a very risky sport, and my thoughts go out to racers who have lost their lives, I’m really not judging anyone or saying they weren’t trained.
Nibali was an excellent descender yet he crashed as well from time to time. The 2013 WC pops into my mind as an example.
Olympic RR in Rio
I suspect that increased tech. is not the answer to increased risk-taking and crashing (if that is increasing), and that decreased tech. possibly is.
If a rider has a screen that tells them how a corner is going to be, they are more likely to approach that corner more quickly.
Also, screens are distracting. Doesn’t matter what you are doing.
If a DS is telling a rider to ‘move up, move up’, they are more likely to take risks to do so – and all the other riders will be doing so at the same time.
Having race radio – but not team radio – to warn of incidents would decrease accidents. Teams want radios because they want control. No safety aspect is improved by teams having radios (I’m not saying ‘riding would be more exciting – because that might well not prove to be the case).
You can have a one-way system whereby the riders can request something from the team or tell them they have a flat, etc.
And there can be location devices on riders/their bikes.
Humans have a tendency to move towards what they determine (subconsciously, usually) to be an acceptable level of safety.
We see it with cars: the more safety features cars have, the more risks drivers take or, more often, the less attention they pay.
I actually think having a GPS trace of the road ahead is a net safety benefit: I always go to this screen on descents and it really helps to know that (e.g.) the sweeping, fast bend you’re on is soon followed by a hairpin in the opposite direction (etc), allowing you to anticipate much more effectively.
Of course, if I see that the corner ahead isn’t too sharp then this also means I’m more likely to take it at speed, even if I’ve not done it before. But overall I’d have thought that knowing the route ahead makes things more safe, rather than less.
Regarding steerer tubes, OK, but I have the same problem with this that I do with d-shaped seatposts; they inevitably lead to a proliferation of proprietary parts downstream on consumer level bikes. Giant, for one, has done this on a lot of their bikes, and it has made me decide against buying one of their bikes as a daily commuter. If there were industry wide standards for d-shaped seatposts (like there are for bottom brackets), I would be all for it. As it stands, buying a bike with a d-shaped seatpost locks you in to one brand’s proprietary parts ecosystem with no guarantee that you’ll be able to get those parts in the future. If bike manufacturers had the good sense to keep their “innovations“ to their pro bikes and manufacture consumer level bikes to industry standards, then yes. However, they’ve shown time and again that they absolutely lack good sense.
Think some D shaped forks already exist… probably to accommodate fully internal cable routing through the headset. (Giant, maybe enve, some look bikes?) Not sure how good they are in comparison to a round steerer, but think there was a known failure of the look streerer
You’re right, the current gen Propel uses a D shaped steerer. It works well with Giant OEM stems; for third party circular steerer stems, you need to use a shim to fill the gap and spread the pressure. It is argued that D-shape is more susceptible to manufacturing error and steerer failure although there are loads of Propels out there and there hasn’t been reporting of wide-spread issues. But Giant is the biggest bike manufacturer in the world and presumably is on top of its safety controls – for it to become a standard beyond Giant, this might be problematic for manufacturers.
Great and thought provoking article. Two points: About race radio’s, I recall a recent podcast where someone pointed out (Mitch Docker maybe) that actually there are strict limits to shape and size of radio’s and basically teams have to still use the same radio’s they used in early 2000’s, despite manufacturers in some cases no longer making them.
Regarding bike weight, is anyone (in World Tour) actually riding a bike these days that is 6.8? With aero frames, wider wheels, tyres, disc brakes, battery powered transmission, power meters, large screen computer, then we are quite far from the Gilberto Simeoni days of adding weights to your Cannondale. A cofidis rider even publicly criticised his team’s bike supplier Look for being around 7.7kgs. A recent look through the catalogue of a top Italian bike brand and I was surprised to find almost nothing under 8kg
Absolutely so. And annoying for the aware client who knows that more often than not much of the above is of little use for them.
How I hate safety pinning on a number. They made these magnets for awhile about ten years ago that were supposed to be better than pins but they were worse. I for some reason thought the TDF had solved number pinning but then saw someone doing it last year and silently wept. For bottles, I never thought it was slipperiness or grip, just the impact of the hand being too much. All items above were thought provoking, thanks.
Regarding electronics, there is always the chance that miniaturization will soon render their bulk irrelevant anyway. It is true that radios do not obey Moore’s Law (no power electronics do) but in ornithology, for example, transmitters have become so light that even some hummingbirds can now be burdened with them without putting the bird’s survival at risk. Race radios could already be made much lighter.
The ideal place for a really small radio receptor would be the helmet. Helmets rise above the clutter of the peloton for best antenna reception, are closest to the ears and can be always with the rider.
Regarding ball bearings – the trend towards ever larger axle diameters leads to bearings having inner races of a very large circumference and tiny bearing balls. Not only are these bearings less durable, they also cause more drag. Bearings with large balls and small-diameter inner races roll better, last longer and are stronger too for a given level of manufacturing quality.
Even some wasps have been put a transmitter on!
(Less worries about the invasive wasp’s well-being in this case, as the intention was tracking the colony and blow it up).
Was going to make similar comment. Larger bearings are not per se better.
How about quick release forks and rear triangle? Hinged at the end to, well, release and fasten quickly. Faired in cam locks to stay aero. Won’t be as quick as the old fashioned dropouts (only one cam to operate) but faster and less annoying than faffing around with screw through axles.
One-sided forks on each end with stub axle. F1-style wheel changes with a big nut on the end. AGGHHHHHHH!
JFC! Plenty of RACING left in the season and there’s this? Reminds me of when SKYNEOS set out to improve the musette. Remember that? Something that looked like a toilet seat had been sewn into the strap so the rider could just spear it as if he was jousting. Where’s that now? Probably in the bin with that silly mesh/vest thing for bottles…remember watching some poor gregario try to put that thing on when it was loaded up with bottles?
Why not take cycling to full “evolution/improvement” simply add a couple more wheels and a motor. Otherwise…Zzzzzzzzzzzz
Thankfully it’s Inrng’s insight and erudition that brings us here and not the anonymous TROLLS.
Troll techniques haven’t evolved since the very first days of internet mailboxes. Back then Hinault was still on the road.
It’s just Larry T.
It’s easy to spot all of his ‘Anonymous’ posts on here and take his advice of many, many years of what to do with ‘Anonymous’ posts – scroll past.
haha, I was just about to post the same thing. The ‘SKYNEOS’ immediately gave it away : )
Race radios / Head Units : why not build the radio in to the head unit, all functionality would be in the one unit. On a similar topic, why don’t we have eSIM’s in modern head units, why do I need to pair with my phone or wifi – these devices are already way over priced and offered limited functionality – this would also open up an easier path for teams to get rider telemetry inrace than current mechanisms
When I watch the bidon pick-up activity I always wonder if things would work better if the support individual put their hand underneath the bidon to eliminate the need to co-ordinate the catch and release.
Might make no difference but what they do now is very much hit and miss and the dropped bidons normally fall in the path of the oncoming bunch.
Believe me, these “support individuals”, as you like to call them, pretty much know what they’re doing and what is best practise. Hand underneath bottle is none of them. BTDT
If only they could stand still and at the side of the road on a gentle LH turn for optimum visibilty.
But No, I shall stride out into the road… and so the usual chaos ensues.
Far better to give each soigneur 20m of kerb estate in a fixed team order and fine them loads if they step off the kerb or stray out their zone.
What you see on TV doesn’t make you think some of these roadside helpers know what they’re doing IMHO. Too often they look like a friend, fan of the team or someone’s galpal drafted-in the morning of the race – “Stand here all day and hand out these bottles/gels to anyone in our kit. Good luck and thanks a lot!” Same with some of those people you see holding up wheels…would they even know how to change them or would the riders have to do it? Adam Hansen types like to complain about safety but they let unqualified people get way too involved in this manner.
Loyal readers will know teams can have holidaying guests handing up bottles. But those doing this aren’t going to be critical to the race.
This should be banned. Feed zone(s) and stuff out of the car only. That’s it. Too many people in too many places standing in the road handing stuff out. It’s out-of-control now.
The helmet with a vent has existed for many years. I have one, Team Sky used them, don’t know if they still do, or if not, why they stopped.
Lazer’s Bullet if i remember rightly?
Hand off water bottles with some hand and arm movement (toward the finish line) so the rider is more like a shortstop fielding a fast ground ball, with some “give” in his hands. This would also allow a fraction of a second more time to get the grip.
Any impressive improvements would be swiftly legislated against.
Soigneurs should hold the bottles upside down, spout downwards. That’s where the bottles are often shaped for grip.
Another weekend another solo win for Pogacar and MvdP… at this rates courses are going to have to be made a lot easier, for the sake of some competition/interest.
Radio intergrated into helmet. If it breads you just switch helmet.
It would have to be a very small radio as any weight embedded could become a problem in the event of a crash. It’s why putting it in the bike could help as in the event of an impact the rider won’t notice.
I’d say there would be plenty of room to fit a radio under the back of the saddle. This would allow it to be removed and replaced quickly (even by the team car mid-race) in the event of any sort of malfunction. Putting it there would probably have minimal impact on aerodynamics, would be easy to maintain, and might have a net aerodynamic gain, since you’re removing it from the riders body.
Some good points here, with what seems like several low-hanging fruit.
Adam Hansen was addressing race radio design in 2016 according to his twitter. Lighter & less bulky (without unused buttons/screens etc). Unclear why teams wouldn’t roll this out as it seems fairly straightforward. Presumably robustness.
https://twitter.com/HansenAdam/status/791737939831250944
I expect steerers are cylindrical because this is an intrinsically strong shape, and the steerer is so safety critical. I expect a different shape would feasible, but probably also relatively heavy. Probably only 10s of grams but in the wrong direction on a headline sales metric for a frame/fork.
Interesting by Hansen. You can take the existing radio and “just” pull off the things you don’t need like the screen, no need to build from scratch.
Nice article.
Regarding non-round steerer tubes, some brands already have these to accommodate fully internal cable routing – Deda make one I think. In the age of one-piece cockpits non-round steerers could end up restricting handlebar choices.
There are also tools for aligning handlebars albeit at the professional mechanic end of the price range (e.g. https://www.instagram.com/romeandstuff/p/C9WwfFbyIkB/?img_index=1). Probably most riders wouldn’t be sensitive to the range of error that a decent mechanic would set them at by eye anyway.
Fingers crossed that there are some engineering improvments in the pipeline that will benefit the person who pays for their own bicycles.
And from a racing perspective: what can be done to stop broadcasting images of riders taking nature breaks? A drone with a curtain?